Telecommunications networks, computer networks, and other networks typically include elements such as ATM switches, frame relay switches, voice switches, digital cross connect switches, multiplexers, routers, servers, and other equipment for processing and transmitting data. Network elements typically contain self-monitoring circuitry and software that can detect internal and external conditions affecting the elements and activate messages that document these conditions. Many of these messages indicate potentially abnormal or erroneous conditions from the local perspective of the reporting resource. Depending on the context, these messages might represent predictable noise requiring no action or might indicate a major network failure requiring immediate attention. Any type of message that conveys evidence that an error condition might exist can be referred to as an alarm. Technicians typically investigate a certain number of alarms to determine their cause and undertake corrective action. However, in large networks, the number of alarms can overwhelm the staff of technicians charged with operating and maintaining the network. The wide variety of protocols, such as SNMP, CMW, CORBA, log files, Telnet/command line interfaces, and proprietary interfaces, used to deliver alarm information can increase the difficulty of gathering and handling of alarm data. Since manually investigating large numbers of different types of alarms to distinguish significant alarms from insignificant alarms can be time-consuming, labor-intensive, expensive, and often impossible, technicians often attempt to focus their efforts on the most severe alarms, ignoring a significant number of messages. This can leave many problems undetected until specific complaints are received from impacted network users.